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50 years of Chollipo Arboretum Foundation:
Past and Future Perspectives
A naturalized Korean, Min Pyong-gal (Carl Ferris Miller) from the United States, purchased two hectares of land in 1962, on barren land by the remote seaside of the Taean Peninsula and that was the beginning of the Chollipo Arboretum. Today Chollipo Arboretum is recognized worldwide as a valued and longstanding peer of numerous botanic gardens and arboreta across the world, known for professional information exchange regarding plant sciences, public garden practices and for the Index Seminum. The Chollipo Arboretum has a unique collection of various plants with the main interest in woody plants from USDA zones 4 to 8. The Chollipo Arboretum has focused on five genera for intensive collection - Ilex, Camellia, Magnolia, Acer and Hibiscus. The Chollipo Arboretum has followed the same road as others in the modern history of Korean botanical gardens and arboreta and has greatly influenced ornamental horticulture in Korea. The Chollipo Arboretum is dedicated to conserving plant diversity, and to training people in the field of garden management. It will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its foundation in 2020.
Yong-Shik Kim gained a degree in Forestry from Jeonbuk National University and an MSc and a PhD in Forestry from Seoul National University. His postdoctoral research included a study of the conservation of threatened plant species at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and the Botany Department of the University of Reading, UK. He retired from the Department of Forest Resources and Landscape Architecture, Yeungnam University after 34 years of education and research. He served as the President of the Korean Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta for three years. He formed and chaired the IUCN SSC Korean Plant Specialist Group since 1999 to support the conservation of Korean plant diversity. He has been Director of the Chollipo Arboretum Foundation since 2018. |
